Policy-making in the United States is based on a wide variety of forces, which are from polls to election results to formal and informal institutions as well as interest groups. The participation of ‘the people’ in the policy-making process is important as it an aspect of democracy. However, the extent of involvement in the policy making process should be minimized but not completely ignored.
The policy making process requires rational policy decisions that are best created using the policy analysis process with experts. It should be in the hands of a few policy analysis experts and have minimal participation from the citizens. The reason would be because the involvement of ‘the people’ makes them emotionally attached instead of being detached and make rational decisions. Through the policy analysis process, the policies are more accountable and still democratic as the citizen participation is present but limited.
The federal initiatives and programs would grant greater access to the monitored citizen participation. The federal programs and initiatives determine the level of involvement and also help choose qualified citizens to be involved in policy making. The citizens should have knowledge of the government, federal and state laws. For interest groups, they should have minimal power in the policy-making process as well as the in the power distributed among them (Keane, 128). In policy making, the relationship between the interest groups walks a very fine ethical line that often separates undue influence from participatory democracy (Keane, 129). Therefore, the public role should not only be limited to voting in elections and interest groups, but also in various federal initiatives, programs and citizen councils. The only limits would be the minimal powers from ‘the people’ as they may lead to state capture or undue influence.
Work Cited
Keane, J. The Life and Death of Democracy. Simon & Schuster; London, 2009. Print.
